The state SUV carrying Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds sustained damage on its front bumper and headlamps after colliding with a deer on Interstate-35 on Wednesday (Jason Noble/The Register).

Updated at 5:15 p.m.

A vehicle carrying Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds collided with a deer on Interstate-35 this afternoon.

The deer was killed, but none of the passengers – the state’s top two elected officials, an aide and a driver with the Iowa State Patrol – were injured.

Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht said two deer crossed the highway ahead of the SUV, causing the driver to brake. At that point, a third deer crashed into the front corner of driver’s side. The accident occurred just north of Story City at about 1:40 p.m.

Damage to the vehicle was minor enough that it was driven back to the Capitol without incident. The SUV – a black Chevrolet – sustained damage to its front bumper and driver’s side headlamp. It was taken Wednesday afternoon to a state garage where a wheel was replaced.

Branstad, Reynolds and longtime Branstad aide Margaret Hough were returning from an event at Pine Lake State Park in Eldora.

Wednesday’s accident wasn’t the first time Branstad has had trouble in transit as an elected official.

In 1979, he was hospitalized for eight days after a grain truck ran a stop sign and struck his vehicle broadside on a blacktop road outside of Clear Lake in northern Iowa, according Albrecht and press reports from the time. He suffered head injuries, facial cuts, bruised ribs and a leg injury in the collision.

Branstad, who was lieutenant governor then, had spoken that evening to the Mason City Chamber of Commerce and was returning to his law office in Lake Mills.

In 1978, Branstad was a passenger on a plane that crash landed in Sioux City after its landing gear failed to deploy.